Irs Has Eye On Capone `Vault`

If skeletal remains of Al Capone`s enemies lie encased in concrete beneath his old South Side headquarters, it`s a matter for the medical examiner.

But if, as some suspect, the spoils of his criminal empire are buried there, the Internal Revenue Service wants its cut.

To the IRS the notorious gangster still is an artful tax dodger, though he has been dead since 1947.

So it should come as no surprise that the IRS served notice earlier this month on a group rehabilitating Capone`s former hangout that $800,000 of any money found inside rightfully belongs to Uncle Sam.

``We were sort of dumbfounded,`` said Ruthann Fowler, cofounder of the Sunbow Foundation and director of resource development.

Since January, the nonprofit foundation has been trying to raise funds to open a ``sealed vault`` it believes lies behind a basement wall of the century-old Lexington Hotel at Cermak Road and Michigan Avenue. But last month Patricia Porter, executive director of the foundation, said there were no firm plans to start the project, because of a lack of funds.

Fowler said the organization still wants to open the vault and has planned a fundraising tour for 10 a.m. June 9 at the shuttered hotel.